Report: Israel Conducted Strike on Syrian Antiship Missiles

U.S. government insiders said a Syrian purchase of Russian-built Yakhont antiship cruise missiles came under Israeli attack off of Syria's coast on July 5, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Israeli aircraft bombed the missile shipment, the sources said, citing intelligence data. However, Middle East intelligence insiders told the London Times that Israeli Dolphin-class submarines were responsible for the hit, the Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.

Separately, Obama insiders said efforts to equip Syrian opposition forces for combat might not have an effect for months on the country's civil war, now in its third year, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Senior Obama legal experts have warned that providing aid for Syrian rebels could breach international codes and prompt a backlash from Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Syrian state media said Assad's forces had uncovered a cache of "toxic chemical weapons inside a terrorists' den in the area surrounding al-Manashir roundabout in Joubar," the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

This article was published in Global Security Newswire,
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